Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:57 am, sunset 3:51 pm for a total daylength of 5 hours and 54 minutes. Tomorrow will be 1 minute and 7 seconds shorter.
Unseasonably warm weather continues with a high today of 42º under cloudy skies with occasional sprinkles. Formerly frozen lakes and ponds are once again ice-free. The forecast for the Seward Christmas Bird Count on Winter Solstice, December 21, calls for temperatures to dive down to 16º with sunshine. We shall see!
Sharp-eyed Deb and Dan alerted me to two HOODED MERGANSERS at the Lagoon in Benny Benson Park yesterday afternoon. I dashed out and refound them, but at 3:30 pm, it was almost dark.
I checked them today at 12:30 and the light was just about as dim. However, I could now see that one had the start of a drake’s white hood patch buried in the golden fringes of his crest. The female had a smaller crest and no white. I think they are youngsters and wonder if the nest was in Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula, or nearby.
They were actively diving near each other, surfacing almost every time with a small fish for lunch. The slightly larger fish needed repositioning and processing to gobble down.
A nice flock of BUFFLEHEAD, including the handsome males, a few BARROW’S and COMMON GOLDENEYES, and COMMON MERGANSERS fished nearby. A KINGFISHER flashed across the Lagoon to the other side. MALLARDS checked out the inlet at the north end.
Deb and Dan also reported the Thick-billed Murre at the same place by the Diversion Tunnel Waterfall. I only found three PELAGIC CORMORANTS, but it’s nice to know the Murre is surviving.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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